Abdullah Butcher Skirts Around Hepatitis Claims

WWE Hall of Famer and hardcore pioneer Abdullah The Butcher recently responded to “Superstar” Billy Graham’s claims that he shouldn’t be in the Hall of Fame. Abby told The Ottawa Sun:

“I helped Superstar Billy Graham when he was in Calgary. I loaned him money. For him to say I shouldn’t be in the Hall of Fame is wrong. I still think he’s a nice guy, but he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. What shouldn’t I be in the Hall. They put Drew Carey in. What’s wrong with me? I drew money all over the world?”

Of course the reason why Billy Graham disputed Abdullah’s right to be in the Hall of Fame is because of accusations that he was infecting wrestlers with Hepatitis C through sharing a blade and/or cutting wrestlers without their knowledge.

These claims have not been verified and the Butcher has not addressed them directly. He appears to be skirting around the issue.

The claims are dealt with in a new documentary entitled “Don’t Bleed on Me”. The official summary reads:

In December 2005, a physical evaluation deemed Devon Nicholson to be a healthy, muscular, experienced professional wrestler on the cusp of achieving his dream of signing a contract with World Wrestling Entertainment. In 2009, Nicholson obtained that contract, only to have it rescinded on the grounds of him having Hepatitis C.

In between those two periods of time, Nicholson was involved in a series of wrestling matches with a “legend” of the hardcore, blood-letting style, Abdullah the Butcher; real name Larry Shreve. Upon further investigation into the cause of his Hepatitis C diagnosis and upon reviewing the footage of his matches with Abdullah The Butcher, he became aware of certain practices that Abdullah used in one of his matches against him. In the match, Nicholson claims that Shreve used a razor blade on himself repeatedly (the standard method for wrestlers to bleed during a match), but Shreve would also use the same blade on Nicholson, without his consent or prior knowledge, allowing both wrestlers to bleed excessively and have their blood “co-mingle”. Much like two junkies that share a needle, this practice is a dangerous one, due to the risk of spreading disease.

Some may remember a backstage incident involving The Undertaker and Bob Orton. Orton had been allowed to blade during a storyline with Taker in 2005, despite having hepatitis as a teenager. Taker was feuding with Randy at the time.

Sean Waltman was recently diagnosed with the disease and it has been suggested that Desmond Wolfe has been kept off TNA because he also has hepatitis.